“We were all ready to head out on a college tour upstate,” remembers Elliot Greene. “The night before we were to leave, my son, Geoffrey, complained that he wasn’t feeling so well—there was some abdominal cramping and he had no appetite.

Although medical ultrasound technology has been in use for over 60 years, it is only within the last decade that technological advances have allowed ultrasound examinations to be utilized in point-of-care (the location where patient care occurs) and emergency situations. Point-of-care ultrasound allows a doctor to get fast, accurate answers to many of the urgent questions that may arise in an emergency.

At New York Methodist Hospital, each emergency medicine physician is trained to perform point-of-care ultrasound and interpret the results, significantly cutting down the time to ultimate diagnosis.

Our S.M.A.R.T. and Rapid Evaluation Program are innovative programs designed to reduce emergency room waiting times for patients.

S.M.A.R.T. stands for Simple Medical screening And Rapid Treatment. This program allows our doctors and nurses to quickly assess the severity of your emergency and treat you promptly.

The program is simple.

Sign In: When you walk into our emergency room, you will be greeted by a patient liaison. This person will help you sign in and answer any questions you may have.

Medical Screening: A registered nurse (RN) or physician's assistant (PA) will ask you about your symptoms and medical history (medications you take, allergies you have) and check your vital signs (temperature, blood pressure, pulse). If you already have an NYM doctor, now is the time to tell us.

Information Gathering: A clerk will want to know more about your current health and past illnesses so he or she can create your medical chart. Depending on the severity of your emergency, you may be registered either before or after you receive treatment.

Treatment: You may be treated by a PA who is supervised by an emergency room doctor. During your visit, you may need to have blood drawn, X-rays taken, and/or other exams done.

Going Home: If you are treated by a PA, he or she will explain your illness and how it has been treated. The PA may prescribe medication and give you instructions for what to do once you get home and how to schedule a follow up visit.

Rapid Evaluation: In the Rapid Evaluation Unit, patients are quickly screened, treated, and/or directed to the most appropriate care center upon arrival to the Emergency Room. The Rapid Evaluation Unit differs from the S.M.A.R.T. program in that S.M.A.R.T. is reserved for minor emergencies such as ankle sprains, upper respiratory infections, and minor injuries. The Rapid Evaluation Unit sees patients with more emergent symptoms such as nausea with vomiting or a cough with a fever.

For life and limb threatening conditions or other very serious conditions and injuries, patients are brought to the main emergency room, where a team of board-certified and emergency medicine trained doctors, nurses, and social workers collaborate to address various patient care needs.

Separate Pediatric Emergency Area
For the comfort and convenience of all patients, we offer separate waiting rooms and treatment areas for adults and children needing medical attention. The pediatric area is decorated with friendly storybook characters and has a television that provides children's programming. The pediatric emergency area is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Separate Women's Emergency Area
Female patients who require more privacy will be treated in an area where only other women and medical staff are permitted. Treatment areas allow for complete privacy between the patient and her doctor.

State-Designated Stroke Center
NYM's designation as a "Stroke Center" by the New York State Department of Health indicates that we have a full team of specialists on call 24-hours a day to respond to stroke emergencies. We are also the only hospital in Brooklyn recognized by the American Stroke Association as a "Get With The Guidelines-Stroke (GWTG-Stroke) Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award" winner, as well as a member of "the Target: Stroke Honor Roll."

If you think you may be having a stroke, call 911 immediately. Do not wait! People who are having a stroke and who are treated within the first three hours after the first signs of a stroke have a better chance of surviving and avoiding long-term disability. Look for these signs, then act FAST:

Facial weakness - Can you smile? Has your mouth or eye drooped?Arm weakness - Can you raise both arms?Speech problems - Can you speak clearly and do other people understand what you say?Take action - Call 911 and tell the operator at what time you started noticing these signs. Every minute matters!

Chest Pain Center
If you arrive to the Emergency Room with chest pain, our doctors may send you to the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, which is staffed with an outstanding team of heart specialists who provide 24-hour on-call seven day per week service to people with sudden, severe heart emergencies.

If you are having chest pain, do not ignore it. Heart attacks are not always easy to detect - they start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort in the chest.

Know the Signs:

Chest discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain.

Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach.

Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.

Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, or lightheadedness.

As with men, women's most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain.

If you have these symptoms, call 911. Do not wait! Patients who arrive by ambulance to the Hospital receive treatment faster and have a better chance of survival.

Language Assistance
In addition to an ER staff that speaks many languages, New York Methodist provides signers for the deaf. If you are non-English speaking or a person who is deaf, please inform someone at the reception desk when you arrive.

Visitors' Information
Visiting hours are 24-hours per day, seven days per week. Because emergency treatment areas are small, no more than two visitors may sit with a patient who is receiving care. Additional friends and family are welcome to sit in our newly-designed waiting area. Visitors will find meals and drinks in our cafeteria which is open for breakfast from 7:00AM to 10:30AM, lunch from 11:15AM to 2:30PM, and reopens with a limited menu from 3:15PM to 6:30PM.

Why the Wait?
When you visit an emergency room, it's typical to have to wait to be treated by a doctor. At NYM, we work hard to reduce the amount of time that you may have to wait. Here's why you generally have to wait while visiting any ER: Doctors and nurses are behind the scenes doing a lot of work on your behalf. They...

Check medical records.

Contact your family doctor.

Discuss your condition with other doctors and specialists to confirm a diagnosis and agree on treatment options.

Wait for and review your test results. Depending on the test you need, it may take a couple of hours for results to come back.

Work on the paperwork needed to send you home.

All of this takes time, so please be patient. It's also important to remember that the Emergency Room has many patients who need care. Only the ER doctors and nurses can determine those patients who are the sickest and need attention first.

As always, if you're waiting to see a doctor and start to feel worse, tell an NYM health professional immediately.